Norwell choir reflects upon performance at Lincoln Center

Facing the limelight at Lincoln Center is daunting, even for professionals, but some would say it’s not as daunting as the rehearsals of Karen Harvey, UCC Norwell’s minister of Music.

John Geany

Facing the limelight at Lincoln Center is daunting, even for professionals, but some would say it’s not as daunting as the rehearsals of Karen Harvey, UCC Norwell’s minister of Music.

Harvey trained her talented and ambitious choir for its Lincoln Center Memorial Day performance. That training was on top of the usual preparation choir members undertake for their ever-evolving song list for Sunday church service.

Harvey’s high expectations and tough-love approach have formed an exemplary choir, a caliber of singers impossible to ignore, even by composer Mark Hayes.

Twenty-four members of the hometown choir traveled to New York City for their final rehearsals and to perform Hayes’ “Requiem for the Brave,” forming a group of over 200 voices to honor America’s veterans. During the intermission, servicemen and servicewomen in the audience were asked to stand and were showered with applause.

On a wider scale, the rigorous rehearsals provided the Norwell choir with that final push of dedication they needed. “We’re used to singing with 40 to 50 singers,” said Galvin, explaining that that number is a significantly more casual environment than the full orchestra the Norwell choir met in New York City.

Galvin called the preparatory rehearsing simultaneously “amazing” and “scary.”

Grinning nostalgically, Hanover’s Brad Moses, a fellow choir member, said, "I'm so glad that she [Harvey] drilled us -- so we could enjoy us."

Norwell’s choir may have amateur status but, with such talent, its standards are high. Despite the inherent joy of the performing, not even Harvey could ignore the pressure that Lincoln Center – as in “The Lincoln Center” – inevitably placed on both her group and herself.

“Well, they didn’t throw me out,” joked Harvey, a celebrated career musician. “That was the first time we’ve done something like this.”

Harvey, who conducts her UCC choir from behind the piano every Sunday, stood alongside her choir members at Lincoln Center to offer her own voice to the performance. Harvey described the experience of standing in the bleachers as Hayes conducted in one word: “awesome.”

Another choir member, Norwell’s Pam Johnson, fully agreed with Harvey’s sentiment. The performance was a bit “hard to put into words,” she said, but “when Mr. Hayes raised his baton and the first note played, I could have dropped." Johnson added that, once the performance was underway, it was “one of the most thrilling experiences” she’d ever had.

Simply put, to the choir, even with the memory of their performance still fresh in their memories, the experience has a surreal tinge.

"I had no idea there would be so many people," said choir member and Scituate resident Debby Mahoney, as though the weight of her accomplishment was only just setting in. As Galvin aptly put it, “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

And while there’s not another performance of this scale in the planning, Harvey seems eager to embrace the next opportunity that presents itself.

Norwell’s UCC choir is always open to new members interested in exploring faith through song.